WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) — Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin announced Monday that she and former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner are separating after allegations he sent sexually suggestive photos again.
Weiner, 51, resigned from the House four years ago after it was made public that he sent lewd messages and photos to women online. On Sunday The New York Postreported he exchanged sexual messages with an unidentified woman last year. At 7:35 a.m., he deleted his Twitter account, according to CNN.
Screen shots published by The Post showed the woman in bikinis and Weiner half-dressed, showing off his stomach or his crotch. They talked about sex.
The Post described the unidentified woman as divorced, in her 40s, from the Western United States who supports Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association. She’s used Twitter to bash both Clinton and President Barack Obama.
Abedin, 40, has worked with Clinton for two decades, starting as intern in the first lady’s office in the 1990s. She has served in both of Clinton’s presidential campaigns and is one of her top aides now.
“After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband. Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy,” Abedin said in a statement Monday.
Trump, the Repbulican nominee, quickly responded in a statement. “Huma is making a very wise decision. I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him.
“I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information,” he continued. “Who knows what he learned and who he told? It’s just another example of Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this.”
Weiner told the Post he and the woman “have been friends for some time.”
During his first sexting scandal, his wife was expecting their first child.
Two years later, while attempting a political comeback as a New York mayoral candidate he sexted an aspiring porn star from southwest Indiana named Sydney Leathers. He had adopted the online pseudonym “Carlos Danger.”
A documentary, Weiner, released in May, detailed the mayoral campaign and the effects on Abedin.
